Rumor: 2022-2023 Trade Rumors and Free Agency: Let’s Run it Back!

[Vaslof]

In Byram negotiations who would say no to a 8 year $5m per year deal? Byram has some extensive injury history and this would provide his family with some long term security. If he is healthy at the end of the contract he’d still be able to sign at age 29 to another big contract. Avs take a big risk, but get the chance to lock up a potential top pair defenseman for the next 8 seasons.

How many years to UFA? His agent would ask for that many years.

 

[Cousin Eddie]

Frank Seravalli is one of the best in the business at breaking news. Actually he’s probably THE best at it. However don’t get that confused with how poor he is with his speculation. His sources (aside from Philly where he does have legit sources) are very clearly with the league office. When something actually happens he’s usually the first to it, but when he’s spewing nonsense about Nichushkin on a podcast it’s not worth even thinking about. Guy’s speculation is just flat out wrong time after time.

 

[Golden Foppa]

All the national people said things had broken down between the Avs and Landeskog and he would be departing Colorado.

The truth is that they don't know. They can get pieces of info like Nuke's agent told the Avs that their offer is way too low and speculate that he's gone, but what they don't know is how Nuke feels about it because at the end of the day if the player tells the agent that he wants to stay so just find me something fair, he is staying despite the two sides being off at the start of negoatiations.

There is still so much that is fluid right now too. EJ retiring frees up 6 million of cap space. Trading Girard frees up 5 million of cap space. Both of those things happening frees up 11 million of cap space.

How can you say the Avs can't afford to keep someone when that much cap space can immediately be opened up depending on how things play out over the next two weeks?

 

[ASmileyFace]

Would Byram accept a 5Mx8 contract with his concussion history? It’ll set him up for life if anything happens to him and it’s no risk to the Avs since at worst they’ll just LTIR him.

No chance after his performance in the playoffs. Dude is a gamer and knows he would be leaving a lot of money on the table if he signs that contract.

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

I just did this really quickly.... But I think there actually is an avenue the Avs could go in, that would allow them to re-sign Kadri and have the cap space to do so.


Basically if the Avs believe Meyers can be the 3C at training camp next year, they could afford Kadri back...


- Nuke at 6x5.5M
- Lehkonen at 2x3.5M
- Cogliano at 2x800k
- Helm at 1x800k
- Johnson at 1x800k
- Husso at 3x3.333M
- Kadri at 5x7M
- Calvin De Haan at 1x1.5M


Landy - Mack - Nuke
Lehky - Kadri - Rantanen
JTC - Meyers - Newhook
LOC - Helm - Cogliano
Sedlak



Toews - Makar
Byram - Girard
CDH - EJ
Johnson - MacDermid


Husso
Francouz

That roster would actually have about $1.75M in cap space as well. Plenty of room to accumulate space throughout the season and make another big push at next years deadline.


Basically just promoting Lehky to the Top 6 replacing Burakovsky, and slotting Meyers in the 3rd line in Lehkonen's spot. Then the Avs can evaluate how Meyers has done at 3C and decide if that's an area they want to improve for the playoffs or not.

 

[Cousin Eddie]

I just did this really quickly.... But I think there actually is an avenue the Avs could go in, that would allow them to re-sign Kadri and have the cap space to do so.


Basically if the Avs believe Meyers can be the 3C at training camp next year, they could afford Kadri back...


- Nuke at 6x5.5M
- Lehkonen at 2x3.5M
- Cogliano at 2x800k
- Helm at 1x800k
- Johnson at 1x800k
- Husso at 3x3.333M
- Kadri at 5x7M
- Calvin De Haan at 1x1.5M


Landy - Mack - Nuke
Lehky - Kadri - Rantanen
JTC - Meyers - Newhook
LOC - Helm - Cogliano
Sedlak



Toews - Makar
Byram - Girard
CDH - EJ
Johnson - MacDermid


Husso
Francouz

That roster would actually have about $1.75M in cap space as well. Plenty of room to accumulate space throughout the season and make another big push at next years deadline.


Basically just promoting Lehky to the Top 6 replacing Burakovsky, and slotting Meyers in the 3rd line in Lehkonen's spot. Then the Avs can evaluate how Meyers has done at 3C and decide if that's an area they want to improve for the playoffs or not.

Yup. Plus they don’t even need Meyers to succeed at 3C. They have a guy like JTC who has proven this year he’s more than capable to handle that role.

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

Yup. Plus they don’t even need Meyers to succeed at 3C. They have a guy like JTC who has proven this year he’s more than capable to handle that role.

Yep for sure.


They can definitely bring back Naz if they want to.

 

[kitsel]

Quick and Byfield for Girard and Newhook and a pick?

Georgiev?

I'm a SoCal native and have watched Quick play a lot - I don't think he's the right choice. He had a bit of a resurgence this year, but 2019-2021 he looked done. At 36, with the hyper-athletic style he plays, even if he's healthy it's only a matter of time until his play slips. Also, Byfield is absolutely adored in LA and I doubt they'd consider moving him, even for premium assets like Girard or Newhook.

 

[RampoSanta]

I just did this really quickly.... But I think there actually is an avenue the Avs could go in, that would allow them to re-sign Kadri and have the cap space to do so.


Basically if the Avs believe Meyers can be the 3C at training camp next year, they could afford Kadri back...


- Nuke at 6x5.5M
- Lehkonen at 2x3.5M
- Cogliano at 2x800k
- Helm at 1x800k
- Johnson at 1x800k
- Husso at 3x3.333M
- Kadri at 5x7M
- Calvin De Haan at 1x1.5M


Landy - Mack - Nuke
Lehky - Kadri - Rantanen
JTC - Meyers - Newhook
LOC - Helm - Cogliano
Sedlak



Toews - Makar
Byram - Girard
CDH - EJ
Johnson - MacDermid


Husso
Francouz

That roster would actually have about $1.75M in cap space as well. Plenty of room to accumulate space throughout the season and make another big push at next years deadline.


Basically just promoting Lehky to the Top 6 replacing Burakovsky, and slotting Meyers in the 3rd line in Lehkonen's spot. Then the Avs can evaluate how Meyers has done at 3C and decide if that's an area they want to improve for the playoffs or not.

Not seeing many people take EJ out. Don't you think that long stroll on the ice after everything foreshadowed something? If he is out, I like trying to re-up Manson at something like $3x3

 

[Richard88]

I just did this really quickly.... But I think there actually is an avenue the Avs could go in, that would allow them to re-sign Kadri and have the cap space to do so.


Basically if the Avs believe Meyers can be the 3C at training camp next year, they could afford Kadri back...


- Nuke at 6x5.5M
- Lehkonen at 2x3.5M
- Cogliano at 2x800k
- Helm at 1x800k
- Johnson at 1x800k
- Husso at 3x3.333M
- Kadri at 5x7M
- Calvin De Haan at 1x1.5M


Landy - Mack - Nuke
Lehky - Kadri - Rantanen
JTC - Meyers - Newhook
LOC - Helm - Cogliano
Sedlak



Toews - Makar
Byram - Girard
CDH - EJ
Johnson - MacDermid


Husso
Francouz

That roster would actually have about $1.75M in cap space as well. Plenty of room to accumulate space throughout the season and make another big push at next years deadline.


Basically just promoting Lehky to the Top 6 replacing Burakovsky, and slotting Meyers in the 3rd line in Lehkonen's spot. Then the Avs can evaluate how Meyers has done at 3C and decide if that's an area they want to improve for the playoffs or not.

In other words, signing Kadri depends on:

- Nichuskin taking less than $6m;
- Avs going short-term with Lehkonen;
- Husso taking a cheap deal with the Avs; and
- Kadri settling for less than 6-7 years and under $7.5m.

Not sure if any of those things happen. I guess if you allocate some of that extra $1.75m to Nichuskin and Lehkonen to get them up to $6m and $4m and give Kadri another year it might happen; but you'd still be counting on Husso giving you a bit of a discount and even signing with the Avs to begin with.

That all said the more I think about it the more appealing it is to just re-sign Kadri. He's going to tail off in a couple of years, but as long as you avoid NTC and also front load it a bit you can probably get out of that contract down the road while still getting another 2-3 good years out of him. The 2C market is just not great right now so that might be the Avs best solution to stay as contenders next year.

 

[AvalancheSpeedsters]

Not seeing many people take EJ out. Don't you think that long stroll on the ice after everything foreshadowed something? If he is out, I like trying to re-up Manson at something like $3x3

This might have been answered already but IF he does retire, does his 6 million cap still remain on the books for next year?

 

[Avs44]

Still in recovery mode so haven't read the whole thread...but I'm strongly against trading Girard. Defensive depth is absolute gold. Injuries happen every single year on playoff runs. I mean, we lost Girard this year, I'm pretty certain Toews was also injured, and Tampa's D was gutted even though they kept playing. Keep all of Byram/Toews/Makar/Girard, and also try to bring back Manson if he'll sign something reasonable. Having a top four calibre defenseman on the bottom pairing during the regular season is absolutely fine.

Also, we just gutted our defensive prospect depth at the deadline so that's yet another reason to keep Girard. Maybe consider moving Girard in a year+ if Behrens is doing well. He absolutely should not be moved this offseason.

 

[Belgican]

In other words, signing Kadri depends on:

- Nichuskin taking less than $6m;
- Avs going short-term with Lehkonen;
- Husso taking a cheap deal with the Avs; and
- Kadri settling for less than 6-7 years and under $7.5m.

Not sure if any of those things happen. I guess if you allocate some of that extra $1.75m to Nichuskin and Lehkonen to get them up to $6m and $4m and give Kadri another year it might happen; but you'd still be counting on Husso giving you a bit of a discount and even signing with the Avs to begin with.

That all said the more I think about it the more appealing it is to just re-sign Kadri. He's going to tail off in a couple of years, but as long as you avoid NTC and also front load it a bit you can probably get out of that contract down the road while still getting another 2-3 good years out of him. The 2C market is just not great right now so that might be the Avs best solution to stay as contenders next year.

That should be the plan :

Kadri : 4x7.5M$
Nuke : 6x6M$
Lekh : 4x4M$
Manson : 4x4M$
Cogs : 1x1.1M$
Helm : 1x1.3M$

Let go Bura, DK, and sign a FA goalie at the deadline !

 

[Foppberg]

In other words, signing Kadri depends on:

- Nichuskin taking less than $6m;
- Avs going short-term with Lehkonen;
- Husso taking a cheap deal with the Avs; and
- Kadri settling for less than 6-7 years and under $7.5m.

Not sure if any of those things happen. I guess if you allocate some of that extra $1.75m to Nichuskin and Lehkonen to get them up to $6m and $4m and give Kadri another year it might happen; but you'd still be counting on Husso giving you a bit of a discount and even signing with the Avs to begin with.

That all said the more I think about it the more appealing it is to just re-sign Kadri. He's going to tail off in a couple of years, but as long as you avoid NTC and also front load it a bit you can probably get out of that contract down the road while still getting another 2-3 good years out of him. The 2C market is just not great right now so that might be the Avs best solution to stay as contenders next year.

I really can't see him getting over 7.5M regardless. 32 year old coming off a career high when his previous high was 61 points? Eh.

 

[willy702]

Not seeing many people take EJ out. Don't you think that long stroll on the ice after everything foreshadowed something? If he is out, I like trying to re-up Manson at something like $3x3

Near zero chance he retires now. He's getting the full 6m in salary next season and showed no signs of being physically done so its not like he feels the game is just passing him by. After next year chances go up but feels like he still has 2-3 years in him with the last year or two probably being in California. If he did retire the cap hit goes away, he's not in the 35+ contract situation.

 

[LOFIN]

Still in recovery mode so haven't read the whole thread...but I'm strongly against trading Girard. Defensive depth is absolute gold. Injuries happen every single year on playoff runs. I mean, we lost Girard this year, I'm pretty certain Toews was also injured, and Tampa's D was gutted even though they kept playing. Keep all of Byram/Toews/Makar/Girard, and also try to bring back Manson if he'll sign something reasonable. Having a top four calibre defenseman on the bottom pairing during the regular season is absolutely fine.

I like Girard as well, but where do we slot him in that lineup? Is he a good partner for Byram in the 2nd pairing? Not sure about that. Should either him or B play in the third pairing? No. You would either try to force Byram and Girard, or break up Makar and Toews.

I'm not saying I want to get rid of Sammy G, but I think he's expendable. And he's basically our most usable asset this off season for making a trade. And I think we do need to move him to be able to re-tool this squad for next season.

 

[willy702]

I think a 1st and Newhook would be in the ball park.

I don't get the obsession with Gibson really. Yeah he was something great years ago, but to borrow the comments of others about Darcy he doesn't inspire confidence now. Three straight years his save percentage has been around .900 and he's been negative in goals saved compared to xG. Maybe he bounces back a little with a better team and D, but seems his days of being a top 10 goalie in the league are gone forever.

 

[RampoSanta]

Near zero chance he retires now. He's getting the full 6m in salary next season and showed no signs of being physically done so its not like he feels the game is just passing him by. After next year chances go up but feels like he still has 2-3 years in him with the last year or two probably being in California. If he did retire the cap hit goes away, he's not in the 35+ contract situation.

Felt better than 50/50 after that stroll, winning the cup, and nearly retiring last year.

 

[willy702]

Felt better than 50/50 after that stroll, winning the cup, and nearly retiring last year.

When a guy is hurt and dealing with the issues he was then retirement clearly enters the picture. Now he looks like he's still a 4D/5D for most NHL teams and seems to have ended the season in relatively good health. If he was looking at the type of deal some of these vets do where he was really getting 1M in salary despite a much higher cap hit then totally would make sense to do it, but he's getting the full 6M so I just see too much reason for him to run it back with the Avs and then decide after next season. And while Avs could use that cap space more than having EJ play, its not as horrible a cap hit as a lot of the last year of high value contracts out there.

 

[EdAVSfan]

I think people need to always remember that the NHL is always 2 seasons, despite us not really caring about the first one so much anymore.

One of the reasons the Avs were able to win this year was because of the incredible depth they were able to run in the regular season. It allowed the Avs to clinch the west super early, and rest tons of players, Landeskog surgery, etc.

The regular season is still there. And it’s still a marathon. And like it or not, the team is going to try to get to the top of it again. That means not burning out all your players. Moving guys like Girard isn’t the best idea unless you have major holes somewhere.

You need two teams to win cups. Team that’s good for the regular season and teams good in the playoffs. Important to apply importance to both.

 

[LOFIN]

Let's get real, even when EJ talked about almost quitting last summer, he didn't technically mean retiring. It would've been LTIR for the remainder of the contract. He's not just going to leave money on the table. There are no signing bonuses in his deal, he's making 6m next year. He's going to play.

And to be honest, with the way he played this year I would be surprised if he doesn't want a new deal next summer, be it with us or someone else. Not going to make 6m dollars anymore, but he's still a good bottom pairing D.

 

[EdAVSfan]

I’d consider it a minor miracle if EJ retires. He just won a cup, has one season left and one more chance at another. Had his healthiest season in years and is about to make 6M dollars.

Why exactly is he giving that up?

 

[Mighty Makar]

I want Cogliano, Manson and Helm back for sure. I think Kadri is a goner, same with Bura. I believe Nuke will be back. I think G will be traded for a top 6 forward.

 

[UncleRisto]

Barrie for Kadri, and now New Barrie for New Kadri: Girard for whoever.

 

[MacKaRtin]

Would Byram accept a 5Mx8 contract with his concussion history? It’ll set him up for life if anything happens to him and it’s no risk to the Avs since at worst they’ll just LTIR him.

From an actual dollars standpoint, there is significant risk for the Avs. Insuring that contract, given Byram's concussion history, will not be cheap at all.